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Friday, October 24, 2014

Netiquette Blog of The Day - Keeping The Internet Free

As often as possible, I blog on the freedom of the Internet. It really is in peril for many reasons. The article below offers some insights not often discussed. Again, as netizens, we should all do our part to be aware of the local and global developments which are moving in ways that might threaten our digital freedoms!

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The Hill October 22, 2014, 10:00 am By
Simon Rosenberg and Jonathan Spalter

Fighting to
keep the Internet open and free

0 CommentsThis week, as the world’s Internet diplomats
descend on Busan, South Korea for the important global gathering of the United
Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU), they would do well to do
a quick status update on the health and well-being of the Internet and the
future of global communications.

For
the truth is that this remarkable thing we call the Internet may be much more
fragile than it appears.

Cyber-criminals, rogue states and
adversaries are making the Internet far less safe for consumers through the
persistent and escalating theft of personal data.

Autocratic
governments are making a major effort to bring the day-to-day governance of the
Internet under their control.

Industrial
espionage has dramatically escalated across the world, with some estimates now
suggesting that global corporations are losing hundreds of billions of dollars
in intellectual property every year.

Spectrum,
the electromagnetic waves which form the invisible infrastructure for the
mobile Internet, increasingly is in short global supply as demand continues to
accelerate through the developed and developing world.

Meanwhile,
protectionist trade policies are threatening to create not a single global
Internet, but a series of regional intranets that replicate the kind of customs
regimes we see on physical borders today.

To
counter these threats to the Internet, it will be critical at this meeting for
America’s delegation to be crystal clear about what concrete steps need to be
taken to ensure that the Internet can remain resilient, accessible, free and
secure, now and for future generations.

In
that regard, we offer the following agenda for the U.S. government both in
Busan and going forward:

Defend
the current multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance –
The American delegation should re-affirm our nation’s principled commitment to
the current multi-stakeholder approach which limits the ability of
authoritarian governments to exert undue influence. It also must reiterate that
the proposed transition of certain Internet domain name functions, known as
IANA, from the U.S. government to the global multistakeholder community through
a process convened by ICANN (the organization responsible for technical
coordination of the domain name system ) must satisfy all applicable
conditions before it comes into effect, and be clearly understood to be
undertaken as a means to reinforce the integrity and viability of the current
system.

Finish
the ambitious Pacific and Atlantic trade agreements
– It is important for the Administration to complete the two current regional
trade agreements which will begin to put a more solid global legal framework
underneath the digital economy. Most of the current trade treaties were
completed prior to the arrival of the Internet, and a whole new generation of
trade agreements will need to be negotiated to extend the current liberal
system to a new era of digital commerce. These binding treaties will be
essential to stem the exploding level of industrial espionage and corporate
cyber theft which itself has become one of the biggest threats to global
commerce.

Maintain
a “light touch” when it comes to regulation– For 20 years,
the U.S. government has argued that the Internet must not be regulated at home
or abroad as a public utility-style telecom service. This legal distinction has
been essential to the Internet’s explosive growth, and the innovation we’ve
seen. If the FCC were to declare, as some have requested, that
wireline and wireless broadband and other services be reclassified as a Title
II telecommunications service, it would create an opening for the Internet to
become globally regulated by the ITU, a body that will likely be chaired by a
Chinese government official in the coming years. It may also provide “cover”
for certain authoritarian regimes to point to the more heavy-handed new
Internet regulation in the United States as justification for their own greater
control of the Internet in their societies.

Encourage
governments to keep taxes on Internet devices and services low –
In far too many countries, including here in the United States, mobile devices,
mobile service, computers and other devices and services – which make up the
Internet as we know it today – are taxed at levels which prevent widespread
consumer access, and at rates which are far greater than other common goods and
services. The U.S. government should continue to work with foreign governments
to build internal regulatory and fiscal frameworks which encourage wide spread
adoption and the democratization of information services. And we must lead by
example by lowering mobile tax rates here at home.

Ramp-up
White House policy leadership – Both Secretaries of State Clinton
and Kerry put Internet freedom high on the list of key American national
security priorities. That was a wise first step. But now, given the enormous
and increasing global economic, cultural, and security stakes involved in
maintaining a flourishing and secure Internet, it is time for the White House
itself to exert more hands-on leadership in, and coordination of, overall
Internet policy management across government.

For
Americans and many people around the world the Internet represents freedom,
opportunity, and knowledge – a world of possibility and openness. But to many
autocratic governments and rogue actors on the global stage, the very openness
of the Internet is a threat to their far more oppressive understanding of what
civil society means. In recent years, these and other forces are working to
weaken the Internet, and challenge its primacy in the lives of billions of
people around the world. To ensure that the Internet continues to evolve and
strengthen, the United States government will need to become far more assertive
on the international stage in shaping the global consensus for how we can
ensure our grand kids won’t be talking about this thing called the Internet the
way we talk about the League of Nations today. A strong and aggressive
performance in South Korea over the next
few weeks by the United States delegation will be an important first step in
this vital effort. =======================================

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